The cold ocean water slapped hard against the wooden sides of the West Fiore Trading Company Ship as it raced through the sea towards their targetted destination. Amalie stood on the deck, arms crossed over her chest. A multitude of boatmen milling about behind her running the boat and preparing for the task at hand. Her Icy-blue eyes stared hard at the water ahead trying to find any sight of the catastrophe that awaited them. She was aware that one of her guildmates was on the boat too, but she wasn't in the mood to keep her company. Amalie was too focused on the task at hand.

When she had come to the guild today, her only intention was to collect her reward for the job she had most recently done. The slaughtering of a pack of werewolves that were terrorizing villagers, she had the blue-haired guy shark guy had made quick work of it. She had been looking forward to receiving payment and heading home to add it to her finances. She had planned on spending time going through her income and review her financial progress. A task she thoroughly enjoyed, knowing she was on her way to accumulating wealth always put Amalie in a good mood. After collected her funds, she had initially been about to leave the guild when the emergency call out rang out. Having overheard it, her mood immediately dropped and all thoughts of heading home vanished.

Amalie had rushed back and volunteered herself for the rescue. Usually, she would not be so eager to sign up for emergency jobs, they were usually high-risk and low reward. But this one was different, this wasn't about making money or about building her slowly amounting reputation in the guild. Taking this job had been instinctual for her. Children at risk of drowning due to an amusement ship going down near whirlpools, or potentially eaten by the monstrous creatures spotted near the incident. Such mania was unheard of. Yet, she wasn't about to ignore it. Children were the most innocent type of human, so mouldable and so weak. They needed protecting, and Amalie was ready to do just that.

She still couldn't see anything, she growled in frustration before turning away from the edge of the boat. Her black heels clicked against the floor as she briskly approached one of the Boatmen. "This is taking too long!" She barked irritably, he looked up at her, wincing as the cold hard wind whipped his face. "We're going as fast as we can, Miss West." He replied, only to receive a stare of cold fury, she resisted the urge to break his nose, knowing it would not benefit the situation. She pushed past him. "Not fucking good enough." She retorted, heading towards the back of the boat. The ship was already going at full speed, she was well aware of that. Unfortunately, they hadn't had time to track down the fastest ship in the port, therefore they were stuck with one of their regular trading ships and these weren't known for speed.

She reached the back of the boat in a matter of moments, her pale blue hair whipping about in the wind, she held out her hands with her palms facing outwards. Summoning her magic, she felt it climb up her throat before released in the form of a spell."Burn." She called, the spell reverberated loudly through the air. Fire shot from her palms immediately forced outwards in the direction against where the boat was heading. She was attempting to use the energy from the fire to boost the speed of the boat. After a moment, she could feel the speed of the boat, pick up slightly. She gritted her teeth, holding the flames in place. It would not be ideal to use up all her magic before she got there, but she was determined to get to those children as fast as possible, the longer they soon, the more casualties there would be. Amalie didn't want to go to bed tonight with the conscious of a drowning child on her mind. She would succeed, she just hoped her accomplice would be able to provide a decent amount of support.

WC: 703 / 7000Total WC: 703 / 14000

Last edited by Amalie on 4th January 2019, 9:38 am; edited 1 time in total

Heroism wasn't much up Yona's alley when it came to selecting missions. It seemed that most other mages in the company were busy with other jobs or activities however and an emergency crisis like this was not something Yona could just skip out on. The short green haired woman had been making a statement, sitting in the stables and talking over equine behavior and husbandry when she got the message on her iLac. Why did she even own a damn phone? Yona stood up and brushed the horse hair and sweet smelling hay off her clothing as best as she could. She wasn't dressed in her usual company best, but a mage was a mage and they weren't going to boil over about her clothing choices on this job. She gave Doll one last pat on the back before jogging out to the ships and joining up with what looked like a newer mage. Or at least, the blue haired woman was new to her. The bustle of the ship as it was quickly pushed from the dock and ropes were untangled all around, sails unfurling and the boom swinging wide separated her for a moment from the other mage. Yona didn't actually try to catch up to her, preferring to help the crew.

She probably just looked like one of them, carrying boxes around to stabilize and clear the main deck for use in this dangerous situation. A series of medical staff aboard the staff had needed help below deck to set up stations and cots. They were even training some of the crew members on basic first aid knowledge because who knew how many lives were at risk out in the whirlpools of the sea. As Yona lent a hand, she gleaned that some sort of fancy party boat had sunk near the whirlpools, dumping the children into life-threatening scenarios too dark to contemplate. Yona hated the idea of it, but she supposed most of the people, most of the children would be dead by the time this ship got there. There were so many unanswered questions: Where were all the adults? Why was the ship close to whirlpools in the first place? And finally, on a boat filled with magical playtime fun... where were the mages able to use their power to help!?

Yona returned to the main deck and was tying down the last of a few large barrels when she heard the click of heels and a female's voice shouting. She winced, hoping it was a stressed out nurse and not the mage accompanying her to the rescue. Yona looked over her shoulder and saw the blue-haired woman again, barking out at a poor crew member. She started to approach the woman, heading to the stern to diffuse the situation, when the woman lifted her hands and torrents of flame appeared, propelling the trade ship through the water. As the boat knifed through the waves, the wind lashed Yona's green hair about her face. She wore comfortable black stretch pants and a large grey hooded sweatshirt. Still smelling like a mixture of horse and brine, Yona felt an intense fear looking at those bright flames. Sure, the mage was helping, but Yona had bad experiences with fire. She bit on her lip, hearing the screams of her childhood, seeing the charred body of her father. Luckily, she was wearing pants and nobody could see the scorch marks the home fire left behind on her physical body. The plant mage inhaled and then exhaled, going towards the mage and trying her best to leave her fears behind.

"You should consider treating the crew a little better. They had no warning either and are doing a fine job," Yona defended them valiantly, careful to keep her eyes on the mage instead of the woman's fire. "Still, the fire's a good touch. We should be there in a couple of minutes with that going as it is. Don't tire yourself out too much before we get there. It's just us that can help deal with this." Yona looked out at the water behind the boat and then turned to look where they were headed. A large ship poked up through the blue, a blinking ferris wheel half submerged in the water. From where she was, Yona could see tons of little shapes, bodies in the water, clinging to each other, wearing floatable vests, and others still sitting or lying on top of floating wreckage, the flotsam bobbing in the water as it rotated and swirled. For a moment, Yona was still, just staring at the scene in a scramble of confusion and emotions. How could this have happened? Who let it get to this point? "Come on," She encouraged, "I see them!"

The plant mage took off sprinting to the bow, looking over the starboard edge as she went. The crew cinched the sails back up into half-rolls, slowing the boat down to not make a bad situation worse by running aground of the children still surviving.WC: 840

Amalie couldn't help herself; she was rattled. Her fire blew furiously from her palms, a significant reflection of her internal state. She was usually so calm, so collected, but today she couldn't be. She couldn't settle, knowing the lives of children were at stake. She would hear a woman address her, glancing over. Ah yes, the guildmate. A young girl, several years younger than the Articulation mage. With green hair and light green eyes. The girl was telling her to 'play nice' with the Boatmen, the incompetent fools who clearly weren't taking their mission seriously enough. She said nothing, looking back at her flames, it was a pointless remark — one that didn't require an answer. She had no intention of listening to such advice. The girl would comment on the fire, continuing to advise her not to use up too much magic. "I'll be fine." She replied stoically.

She would hold the magical flames up consistently for a little longer, pushing the ship towards its targeted location. It wasn't long before she would hear Yona summon her to come over. She ceased the fire, turning away from the edge of the boat. Quickly stalking across the ship, she saw it before she even got the ships edge, the chaos that lay before them. The wreckage from the amusement park ship, floating around in the rocky waters, bodies of adults and children trying to stay afloat scattered amongst the debris. The sight that lay before Amalie only seemed to fuel her anger. How could someone allow this to happen? Surely they should have better safety measures in place other than just lifejackets. Seeing of all those children, terrified, attempting to stay afloat in the turbulent waters. It made her blood boil.

She joined the green haired girl on the other side of the ship, scanning the area. She turned her head around, pointing to one of the passing boatmen. "Lower the lifeboats!" She ordered, before looking back to the carnage in front of them. "Let's try to get the children safe first, I heard reports of monsters in the area. If you see anything, shout Amalie, and I'll rush to aid as soon as I'm able." She told her guildmate, it was rather a crude introduction of her name, but the only sort she had time for. The girls didn't have time to exchange pleasantries, not when lives were at stake. Amalie would hoist herself up, lifting her foot onto the rail of the ship, she would push herself up to stand on its edge. Magic would soar from her core, up through her throat as she called her first command. "Flight."

The air around her body would shift, as though she was all of a sudden, as light as a feather. Her body would levitate off of the edge of the boat, and she would soar out over the rocky seas. She could feel the harsh winds attempted to push her off course; she fought against it. Lowering herself to so that she was hovering closer the sea, she counted as many bodies as she could. Trying to work out how to work her next spell. She didn't have a lot of magic that helped others, most of her magic was offensive, so she would need to get creative. The magic rose up through her body once more, pouring out of her as she spoke. "Globe." The words reverberated through the air loudly. Spheres of wind magic would appear around her, multiplying in mass to match the numbers she could see. Then they would float down towards those in the water, enveloping any adults and children she could see. Surrounding them and one by one, the air bubbles would lift them up into the air. Amalie felt the strain, using her magic to carry so many wasn't easy. She directed them over to the lifeboats and the main boat. Attempting to distribute as many as she could safely.

It wasn't long before several of the children were already safely moved to the lifeboats, and the boatmen were quickly going about handing out towels to dry them and checking them over for any injuries. Things were going acceptably so far; they still had a number to get out of the water yet though. Amalie noticed in the distance the water seemed, disturbed, she looked over it she saw a horde of shadows making their way towards them. It appeared that the sea monsters were coming. She would fly ahead, instructing her orbs to continue their work. In her mind, she reviewed her magical options. She was in truth, somewhat limited, what with all the people still floating in the water she had to make sure she didn't accident assist in any casualties. "Something's coming." She called over to the other girl.

The female guildmate didn't match her gaze or return comment as Yona defended the people on the boat. She wasn't sure what she expected, certainly not a fight although she was always ready for one. Perhaps she had expected some sort of snide or tired remark, a come back to mind her own business, or a breathless and anxious apology because of course, the situation was stressful and not bringing out the best in her. Yona hadn't really expected nothing in response, but given the bright flames, Yona was mildly appreciative of the silence. It was better than any hostility from the female mage carrying such a terrifying blaze.

She stopped herself from smiling, hearing Johann in her head, "My, my! Have you grown up? Do my eyes deceive me? Not even a little squabble?" It seemed her time really had changed her. Unfortunately, she only imagined Johann and his joking commentary. She could have used him on this boat and in this mission, all those kids could use his help too. Instead, she was stuck with a demon in her head who found great pleasure in suffering and death. Yona wasn't looking forward to his giggles or glee as she braced herself for whatever might come into view through the mist and ocean spray.

Her throat felt dry for only a moment before calling out to the other mage. She stood there, mouth agape, Ketsueki's annoying dancing and clapping like a rhythmic chant inside of her head, "Around and around and in the water, someone's son and someone's daughter.." Yona pursed her lips into a thin line as Amalie gave her name and barked out orders to the crew. Getting the lifeboats would only help so much at this point and they were sure to be only a few at a time. At least it would be something. As Amalie levitated away from the boat, before Yona could give her own name, Yona watched as she raised up magical balls of what looked like air. She caught up children and a few adults as well, plopping them near or on the two lifeboats that were set up. In moments, the number doubled and there were four. Ketsueki continued on and on, clapping to the beat of his sing-song lyrics, "Glorious death as they take their last breaths and monsters come in to finish the rest.." Yona set her jaw and stepped forward, jerkily. There was to be no more hesitation here. "If you don't shut up and let me concentrate, I swear I'll swim right into a monster's mouth!" At the threat, her demon harumphed and quieted. There was no reason to risk not taking her seriously.

Yona had to be in contact with the plants in the water in order for her next idea to work and there was no faster way than leaping off and falling the ten feet down from the ship into the crashing and circling waves. Luckily Yona enjoyed the ocean and was a much-improved swimmer; having never been truly abysmal before, currently living beside the sea, Yona had used much of her free time to dive into the waves. This couldn't be too different than swimming in the harbor of Tolgalen's port, right? She took a deep breath and then ran towards the same railing that Amalie had propelled off from. The green haired mage jumped up and then kicked off the railing, diving like some sort of marine mammal into the foamy sea. Like an arrow, she pierced through the surface and immediately felt the sudden jerking pull to the side of a powerful current. Her arms strained for a second, fighting the current until Yona finally gave up and tried to swim diagonally against the current, striving to just get back to the surface and take a good breath. It took time, and she had to remind herself not to panic. Something about being underwater was a lot like being trapped inside of a burning house: struggling to see, struggling to breath, and fighting a battle that feels impossible to win. Just when the mage thought she really had got in over her head, her face broke through the water and she took a strong breath.

She relaxed easily enough, seeing that everything was more or less as she had left it; her trauma-based anxiety lessening in proportion to the importance of her task. Step one to get into the water was complete, even if she hadn't thought all the way through about the currents. Step two was here: the twenty-year-old woman lifted her arms and straightened her back. She placed her arms as evenly as she could against the surface and used her magic to do something she had never done before. "In a book, I read it. The water is filled with microscopic plants. If I can just grow them..." She said to herself. Yona had used the phytoplankton before, but as a communication base. It was not a well-practiced version of what she could do without barely a thought on land, but the mountain mage was clever at least to push the boundaries of her skills. And to her fortune, the microscopic plants bloomed! The millions and millions of phytoplankton grew until she formed a thick mat around herself in the water, a makeshift raft. She cheered happily and glanced around. She noted groups of children still in the water here and there. She concentrated her magic again, fingers in the water, and in seconds thick mats of slimy moss-like plants grew beneath them. It wasn't a lifeboat and it wouldn't be something they could use to sail to safety, but it would get them out of the water. She had made two decent sized mats when Yona heard Amalie calling down to her from somewhere up above.

Something's coming? She looked up but there was so much commotion going on, she couldn't quite focus in on the sound. Did Amalie say what was coming? How many? From what direction? Yona left her hands in the water and clenched them into fists, pumping out more of her magical power into the water. "First the kids, then the monsters." The threat was imminent and certainly dangerous, but if the kids drowned after fighting this long in the water, not even the monsters would get to them in time. She made a third floating mat, then a fourth. She didn't see any others in the water from her position. From beneath her, Yona felt a series of sharp and hard protrusions, and she imagined a dull strange weapon in the hands of a sub-aquan soldier. When she looked down, her green eyes went wide taking in the monstrous creature beneath her, looking right back at her.

The monster was a thirty-foot long serpent with a row of large purple spikes down its back and purple membranous fins around its head, and she was sitting upon his back. It's head lifted up out of the water and showered Yona with water, looking from its dark silhouette above with glinting fangs. Yona cursed several times, lifting her hands from the water in a brief gesture, trying to begin a spell. The body of the snake moved like a mechanical bull, throwing her forward and then backward, forcing her to suddenly hold on or be thrown across the water into the ship nearby.

Its body writhed and coiled around her legs and torso and Yona braced her arms against the thick skin and tried to pull herself free. As she looked down she saw a torrent of shadows moving in the water beneath them and caught the eye of one of the passing creatures. They were smaller than the one she was dealing with, but they didn't bother stopping for her. She counted them in her head in horror, 4... no 6, wait... 10?! "Amalie! Amalie, there are 10 coming! They're going for the children!" Yona didn't ask for help for herself. "Amalie! Stop them! I cant-" The monsters tearing through the water were indeed headed towards the boats and plant-mats where the children were, fifteen-foot snakes knifing through the surface, unafraid of Yona's warnings. There was nothing else to protect the children, nothing else to stop so many creatures. Yona shook her head, Ketsueki stirring and making her eyes flash with blue flame. "Not yet," Yona told him, "I'm fine." The last thing she needed was a violent take over from the demon in a desperate attempt to save her and only her. Evil demons weren't reliable at saving anyone but themselves in her experience. "If by fine, you mean probably going to die, then I agree with you," Ketsueki returned telepathically, though Yona didn't have time to banter with him.

Yona moved her fingers through a strange repetition, like an unholy prayer, before digging her hands and fingers into the coils of the leviathan wrapped around her legs. Her magic began to cover its body in black swollen lesions and she was grateful the monster was not immune to plant-based blights and diseases.The coils wrapped around her arms in a powerful attempt to crush her arms and her torso. Yona did not yield, her fingers still digging into the scales of the great sea-snake. She could feel the magic working and killing the creature and Yona knew it was going to regret going after her from such a close range. With the coils wrapped up around and over her head, she couldn't even see the water, never mind Amalie or the children. It was her hope that they were being dealt with since she knew she would never get out to them in time.WC: 840+1701= 2541

Amalie was glad that the girl didn't decide to escalate the matter, the last thing Amalie really wanted to deal with right now was bickering with her guildmate about something so insignificant as her being a little harsh to the boatman. Frankly, she often found that people reacted a little too zealously to her sometimes, for a girl who didn't exhibit a great deal of emotions, her responses and reactions generally seemed to get under people's skin. Even from a young girl, people used to she noticed she was more often loathed rather loved. From those petty schoolgirls who detested her so much, to the wives and mistresses that slipped in and out of the Corvin household. Even her own family showed little care for her; she had never felt true affection, at least not until she met Wyatt. Perhaps that's why she fell so easily for his charms, his wild and eccentric nature and those handsome features. She had been mesmerised, which is why she never saw the hell that awaited her. How could she? It didn't come to light until sometimes after she had whispered those words. That sweet 'I do', that essential led to some of the toughest years of her life. She was frankly quite tired of all the aggressive behaviour, how easily people would overreact to her lack of care. Why should she care for anyone? When no one cared for her. She saw no need to exhibit such emotions, people were fickle and being distant was much easier. The fact that this girl had decided to accept Amalie's ignorance rather than throw a tantrum over it was welcome to the blue haired mage. Some peace for once, was a blissful change of pace, especially considering the nature of the situation they were in. Bickering while children's lives were at stake, didn't seem very beneficial to Amalie.

Following her having left the boat and working on saving the children. Amalie strained against the weight of the work she was under. Never had she used her magic in such a way before, in fact, it was most likely the first time she had used her magic to help anyone. Her magic was always designed for the offensive, to use it actually to help people was a real first for her. It was strange, to actually want to help people, but still, these people or rather these children had succumbed to a disaster as a result of the neglect of adults. And Amalie's had just about had enough of children suffering due to the neglect of adults. Not today, today she would save these children, and change their alleged fate.

Upon sensing the approach something menacing, Amalie had called out to the green-haired girl. Looking around, she spotted her in the water; it seemed she had dived into the water. A little risky, but Amalie could only assume that she had her reasons for doing it. Amalie's eyes fell on the plant-based mats that some of the stranded were now clinging to. They hadn't been there before. Amalie quicked figured that this had to be the girls doing. Good. She was being useful after all. Amalie knew she had to work quickly, with all her might she pushed the air bubbles to move towards the boats faster. Each bubble popping as a child or adult was safely landed on a lifeboat. The boatman quickly set to work, getting some of them on board the main ship.

Amalie heard the green-haired girls shout, and whipped around. Eyes widening as her gaze fell on the incoming snake-like beast. "On it." She barked back, lowering herself down towards the water. Appreciating the girls warning, Amalie rolled her shoulders slightly. Now, this was where her skills came into play, rescuing people was something she was familiar with — but killing things, not that she was really good at. Her magic crept up through her throat, pouring out of her as she called her command. "Empowerment." Her body pulsated with magical energy, and it's strength increased. She parted her lips and followed it with a second command, "Torpedo." The air around her would shift slightly, above her right shoulder a torpedo of light manifested. She locked onto the first small Leviathian spawn. She nodded, and the torpedo shot out. Shooting into the water, it flew after the first snake. The snakes reeled at its approach, attempting to dart out of the way. Only for the torpedo of light to turn in the water and follow it's path. This wasn't some aimless spell; this spell was designed to make chase, to follow a target until it was eliminated. The light bolted through the inside of the snake, before turning and struck it against. The second blow was enough to take it out. The light did not fade. Instead, it moved through the water, moving at over sixty metres per second, the snakes had no chance at avoiding its attack. Amalie watched, keeping an eye on the location of each snake as the torpedo hunted them down one by one. She saw a snake darting towards some stragglers; she flew over. "Shards." She roared, suddenly the air around her glimmered with broken shards of glass. Amalie waved her hands, and the shards moved into a snake-like formation of their own. Flying through the air, they made their way towards the snake. Diving into the water, the glass wrapped inside round the snakes. Piercing its body all over, and slowly dragging the snake down into the depths of the ocean. Amalie turned to the two stragglers, summoning a bubble for them, she lifted them up with a grunt, before moving them through the air onto the main boat.

She turned to see how her torpedo was doing, pleased to see it had dealt with over half the small snakes already. She soared ahead of the snakes attempting to flee the torpedo and target the children. She stopped in front of them, waving her palm through the air, summoning more of her shards, she set them out. They darted into the water, at her command slicing away at the snakes. Amalie heard a crashing in the water further away, glancing up. She noticed several more snakes, some larger than the ones she had just dealt with. She glanced over to the green haired girl and saw the snake wrapped around her, it was much bigger than the smaller ones, she was dealing with, and it was curled around the girls head. "Shit." She muttered, flying over, she summoned a shard of glass, and cut away at the already dying snake. Trying to at least expose the girls face so she could breathe. Amalie hacked away at the remains of the snake until its corpse fell away. She grabbed the girl by the arm, "Hold on." She said before attempting to lift her out of the water and onto one of those plant-mats she had made. "Steady yourself, worse is coming." She said, looking out across the ocean and more bigger and more menacing snakes made their way towards them.

It felt like her arms were breaking, crushing under the immense power of the snake coiled around her body. Ketsueki stretched out, her hands forming into claws, still digging into the snake. "No, not yet," Yona thought, desperate to keep the demon from making an appearance. "You'll die. I give you ten seconds more," He argued in his deep voice. The green haired mage relaxed her hands, knowing the enormous thirty-foot serpent was deceased. It floated for a moment and then began to sink, still coiled around her, the muscles of the snake's entire body devoted even in death to bring her down with it. She turned her head and coughed as the water rose up between the coils and her, loosening the grip ever so slightly. The water rose further as they began to sink and she felt it between her ears and jawline. Yona kicked and squirmed trying to pull the corpse off of her body. Just as her mouth slipped below the water level, Yona heard a strange slicing sound.

She lifted her green eyes upward and splinter of light broke through the dead snake's coils. Then another, and another, until her head was free and one of her arms began to break free. The mage she was working with, Amalie, had returned to her at the exact ripe moment she was needed. Though Yona was positive she could have handled it, she was grateful to not have to waste time or magic doing so. The blue-haired woman's grip was tighter than she expected it to be, given her lithe figure, and her hands jerked up on her arm as the dead snake came loose. Yona was lifted clean out of the water and carried to a matted squishy green surface. The children were no longer upon it, and Yona was relieved to know Amalie had handled them as well. Yona knelt on the mat and rubbed at her right arm, feeling sharp pains in her elbow. It was possible something was pulled or fractured, but she hadn't really the time to deal with it. "Thanks, Amalie. Worse?" Yona began to say lifting her head. Wasn't the ten other snakes and the massive snake enough? Or how about the still-roiling whirlpools? What else?

Amalie wouldn't need to answer, the direction of her gaze was enough to get Yona's attention. She saw so many writhing snake bodies, it looked like thousands of serpents heading their way. And as they got closer, slipping beneath the water and raising back up, Yona counted the backs glinting in the sun. There weren't thousands, there were six. Six snakes and more than half of them were the sizes of the one she had just taken out with her blight. And it looked like a couple of them were much bigger, maybe even double in size. "I see maybe six," Yona grimaced, speaking out loud just in case Amalie hadn't counted them yet.

She scratched her head and got to her feet. The two largest appeared to have broken off from the others now, changing direction to head towards the boats. It seemed the creatures had some sort of intelligence to them. Black and white flowers sprouted upon small vines that wrapped from Yona's wrists to shoulders around her arms. She didn't have to do more than think it and her magic obliged. The flowers would apply a boost to spell effects, and if she could just get some of them close enough or out of the water, she could simply put them to sleep. She could just command them to fight each other. She had so many talents that would be useful, but the damn water was just in the way. She bit her lip, at least to her fortune many of them were close enough to the surface that she was sure she could affect them in some way. Yona didn't want them getting close range again unless it was necessary, seeing their size and how utterly disadvantaged she was as a mage when it came to this terrain. "You're going to think me very foolish," Yona said slowly to Amalie, "But I have to get close enough to affect them. I promise, I am nearly unstoppable on land, but these creatures... this place... its sort of my biggest weakness, if I am being honest." She looked up at the woman, "Save me if you think I need it, but I think your focus ought to be on the battle. You're much better equipped than I am here."

Yona sighed and opened her mouth, attempting to apologize or explain what she would see if the demon revealed himself and how terrible that would make things back in Tolgalen when everyone found out. There was really no helping it. Either she did all she could and Ketsueki showed up to help, resulting in Amalie no doubt informing Ruvel and Johann back home about the demon inside of her, or she tried with half of her effort and they lost lives. She hoped Ketsueki wouldn't be needed, and she had just one more trick to try. She closed her mouth and gave a nod, taking a step on the green mat and vanishing. Yona walked through the plant, simply appearing farther away on another mat, and then again. She was well within the range of the snakes now: four swirling black and purple faces that were all fins and teeth. She got down on one knee, as an insane person might do, and started flapping her hands in the water and shouting, trying to get the attention of the four thirty-foot monsters. The creatures obliged, slowing their speeds to meet her and lift their heads out of the water. Two of them ducked back beneath disappearing entirely but the two who rose up and gave toothy smiles to the mage were the two Yona was able to target. Yona plucked a petal from the air, sparkling and pink in the sunlight. She blew against it in the direction of the snakes. It looked ridiculous and pathetic: it was the difference between a man with a mask and a machete facing off against a schoolgirl with bouncing blonde curls and a bouquet of wildflowers in hand. The fangs were enormous, bigger than she was, and yet the mage was blowing a petal at them.

The flower glowed green briefly, and Yona got to her feet, bravely facing off the serpents. She slid her hand against the mat as she stood upon it, drawing out a pair of katanas, thin, slightly curved and formed entirely from solid plant-based material. most would assume such weapons would be of no use, but Yona knew better. The snakes before her had inhaled the poison of the flower, she was sure of it. "You're not sure, you're just hoping," Ketsueki murmured, railing against her confidence from within. Yona scoffed and swallowed hard, preparing for an intense fight, hoping that the two snakes in front of her would feel the effects soon: heart damage and pain, palpitations, such things would leave any ordinary beast with a heart doubled over. The snakes hadn't attacked yet, pausing, and then rearing their heads back and giving out high pitched shrieks of pain. The massive bodies quaked in the water, the waves tilting and sliding the mat around beneath the mage's feet. She smirked then, "Hoping, huh?" She said aloud to Ketsueki. Finally, the young woman dove into the fight, a swirl of blades and blood staining the sea.

She wasn't really sure what had gotten into her today, maybe it was just the fact she had already helped the kids and the adults along with them. She had never, in her entire life, felt the urge to help another person. Mainly because no one had ever helped her. Surviving to this point had always been something she had to do on her own. Meaning that she never reached out for help and in return, she never aided anyone either. Because, the moment you helped someone, and put your faith in them. They took it for granted, the only people she had ever done anything for other than herself was Wyatt and her Mother. Both of them had done exactly that, taking it for granted. Occasionally she would do tasks for Wyatt or his brother that required aiding others, but not because she chose to. But because she was told. Which generally meant refusal wasn't an option. Helping others wasn't exactly common ground for Amalie. So that made this particular moment was extremely rare, the fact she had seen someone who needed help and acted upon it. Admittedly, it did tick her off that this girl had gotten into this state in the first place. Wasn't she supposed to be strong? She had sensed that about her just standing next to her earlier, so what was the deal. How had she been caught up under a snake so easily and trapped to the point of nearly drowning? Something wasn't adding up, either this girl was holding back or Amalie's senses were off. Still, she did have some justification for helping her, this task was bigger than she was capable of dealing with on her own. Even she wasn't arrogant enough to assume she could save all these people by herself as well as fend off a horde of giant sea serpents. No, she needed an extra set of hands on this one. Not to mention, this wasn't just another mage, but someone from the West Fiore Trading Company. The very company, she had worked so hard to become a part of. She was pretty sure if she let this girl die on the job, it probably wouldn't go down very well with her superiors.

Fortunately, the girl was light enough that it wasn't too hard to lift her out of the water, at least not with the aid of her flight magic. The girl knelt down on the plant-mat she had created. Amalie watched as she thanked her, her icy-blue eyes falling to her elbow. She was injured? Great. That just made this even more complicated. Amalie hadn't quite learned how to heal others yet, so this time the girl would just have to deal with it. Amalie could hack away a giant snake, and lift her out of the water, but she couldn't perform feats she hadn't mastered yet. She made a mental note to work on her healing spell and see if she could transfer it to another being. However, that wasn't something she had time to practice right now. Following her remark, she had turned her gaze to the ocean and was scanning the water. She could see dark shadows making their way towards them, some bigger than others. The green haired girl would speak, confirming the total that Amalie had seen. That was good, at least they were on the same page. However, she would have to keep in mind, that there might be more lurking deeper underwater. For now, she could only assume this was it. Still, some of those were exceptionally large, and wouldn't be so easy to take down.

Amalie was hovering next to the girl when she climbed to her feet, Amalie looked around. There were still a few people getting out of the water, so using her 'Discipline' spell was out of the question. It was a shame, electric was an ideal weapon to use against such creatures. But exposing those electrical currents to the water created the risk of electrocuting the very people they were rescuing, as well as her partner too. Her fire-based spells were out of the question unless she could somehow get the creatures to emerge from the water long enough for her to hit them, her 'Burn' spell was basically redundant, and there wasn't any point attempting 'Firestorm'. It was a waste of magical power. Which was increasingly frustrating, not being able to use her most powerful spell. Alas, she would have to eliminate those three as combat options and work with the rest. She still had Torpedo, which being light-based was able to move around underwater without issue. Her shards of course, which never failed to provide aid.

The girl spoke again, drawing her gaze back to her. She would listen as she explained her fighting capabilities, and how she excelled on land. Amalie nodded, understanding, that explained why this woman had fallen so easily earlier. The plant-mats, of course, she had some kinda of connection to the earth. Amalie eyed the flowers protruding from her hands, she was clearly working on some kind of spell. Amalie bit the inside of her cheek, this could've been good to know earlier, but still, they hadn't exactly gotten to know each other before this mission. They're hadn't been time, plus Amalie wasn't exactly good at ...communicating with people. A flaw in this situation. But one she would just have to work with. "Fine, I'll remain focused on the battle from here on out. However," She turned away from the girl, "I would prefer it if you didn't die on the job." She said, before flying off towards the oncoming monsters. She created a fair amount of space between them, watching as the snakes moved, four of them seemed to have focused on the green haired girl. The bigger ones were still farther out, but they were clearly trying to get to the boats. They were going to be a problem, and ideally, Amalie needed to make sure they didn't get too close to the boat. Amalie took a breath, raising her palm, she released another torpedo. The beam of light shot into the water. She coaxed it towards one of the bigger creatures. Flying after it, as she attempted to get closer to the beast.

This one was over sixty feet long, it's a body was thick too, with spikes protruding from it's back that had to be just under two metres long. Impaling yourself on one of those certainly wouldn't be a pretty sight. Amalie wasn't sure why, but she had a hunch this was female. She had read a little bit about monsters and remembered some brief information about sea serpents. It wasn't that clear, it had been back during her school years when she used to lounge in the library by herself. She hadn't been one for kicking it in the playground, if she hadn't been attempting to pick-pocket someone, she was spending time by herself, reading. Mainly because the library at her school was free, so it was something she could enjoy without fear of it adding to the cost of their livelihood.

She watched as the torpedo slammed into its side, a little way past its neck. The creature reeled from the attack, the beam of light turned away moving around to make its next strike. For the moment, it had done what she needed it to. The creature's head seemed locked on Amalie, it had noticed her and was now making its way towards her. "Come on mama." Amalie said under her breath, the closer she got, the more intimidating the beast was. To think this wasn't even the biggest out of the bunch. But still, it was somewhat thrilling to face off with such a creature.

She snapped her fingers, the shards would reappear. Spreading around her, more... She thought, and the number of them doubled, and they doubled again. Until she was surrounded by hundreds of pieces of broken glass. She raised her hand, this was enough for the moment, she needed to test how strong this thing really was. She raised her right arm and flicked her palm outwards, the shards flew forward, towards the water. It was a good thing she could sense every piece of glass, else she wouldn't have a clue where they were. Disappearing into the water, made them pretty much impossible to see. She directed them to the beast before her, they ripped into her. Slicing away, the pieces would carve away at the snake, attempting to bury themselves apart. The sea serpent thrashed, her skin was much tougher than the one Amalie had carved up earlier. It would take much more to bring her down, more waves of glass began to form around Amalie. Ready for another attack.

However, there was a screech that rang through the air, Amalie's gaze darted towards it, the other giant snake, the same size as this was was nearing the boat. "Fuck." Amalie snapped out loud, turning she soared towards the boat, when did that one get to so close. She could have sworn it was much farther back when she last looked. Unless it used the time Amalie had taken to attack its fellow snake to get close to the bottom. "It's going to try and capsize the boat!" She shouted at the green haired girl. As she flew as fast she could in their direction. She felt her momentum dropping as her spell began to lose its effect. "Flight." She commanded, she grew lighter once more, narrowly avoided sinking into the water as she continued on after the giant snake.

The green haired mage, tossed her hair, the green strands floating up and around her head until she could see. She pushed off the thin layer of plants beneath her feet, causing a small hole of water to appear where she kicked off. Her sudden burst forward was surprising to the two serpents in front of her. Most of their prey ran away, not forward. It helped her case further that they were still mid-heart-attack from her poison. They were slower to respond and it gave her exactly the time that she needed to mince them with her blade. She slashed up high, cutting through the softer underbelly of the scaled serpent, and then flipped the blade back around to do the same strike but backward on the other snake. Their blood flung through the air and splattered into the water.

Some fancy footwork was needed as one of the snakes lunged forward with its teeth, aiming like a cobra to bite her. If it had landed, it could have bitten her in half! As she backspun to avoid him, she turned and whirled back, stabbing her green blade into the top of the snake's head. It took effort as the first stab barely went in a few inches. She stepped onto the snake's back as it lifted back up into the sky. Yona drew out her blade and stabbed again, aiming carefully for the same spot and smiling as it slipped for a most satisfactory feeling, gliding through the reptile's skull and into its brain. It died instantly and fell backward. Yona had to wrap her arms around its huge body to fling herself back to the mat she had jumped from. She barely landed when the massive splash caused a wave of water to splash over her. Yona coughed some water and wiped a hand over her face to see the second snake gliding down to bite her.

She hadn't the time or the advantageous position. Yona's eyes flashed with the blue fire of the demon inside her again when she realized in that half second that the strike was going to land. "You're really going to die out here!" Ketsueki shouted in her mind, clearly in a panic, desperate for permission to be free. Yona made herself as thin as possible, as tall as possible. "N-No, not yet," She thought back to him, again. This time, she was less sure of her words. As the mouth of the second snake came down around her, she had no choice but to jump forward, into the mouth before its jaws snapped close around her. If she missed, she would be bifurcated.

"Damn it," She cursed and screamed. Yona stretched out her blade ahead, sliding it along the roof of the snake's mouth as it attempted to swallow her. The snake's mouth filled with its blood, dampening the surfaces, making Yona gag. Finally, her green blade had stopped sliding, hitting vertebrae in the snake's neck. It was dark, wet, and had a sickening acrid aroma to it. Some of the fangs cut into her arms as she slid over its tongue, covering her in streaks of her blood mixed with seawater. She lifted her other hand in a flicking motion and from the outside of the snake's body, the plant mat, her spell took hold. Three sharp bamboo shoots sprang forward and upward into the head of the snake, like three spears from below. With the amount of damage all of her strikes had done, she would be surprised if the sea snake was still alive, but being inside of the creature made it hard to tell.

Yona pulled herself up from the cliff that was the throat of the monster and made a jump for one of the bamboo shoots she could see inside. Yona left her weapon behind and used the bamboo shoots inside like an array of bars, meant to be grabbed and used to free herself. At the front of the snake's mouth, a small opening of light appeared and she crawled out of the snake, gooey and drenched, onto the mat.

In her head she replayed Amalie's last comment, "I prefer if you don't die on the job." and she thought to herself, "Yeah, me too." The plant mage gasped, catching her breath, washing her hands in the sea and cleaning off her face. She panted, looking around and trying to get an idea for her surroundings. There were still 3 more snakes to deal with, not counting the two snakes who were surely the size of or bigger than their ship. Her magic was draining quickly and it wasn't as effective as it normally was. When she went head to head with Johann, or when she went to Shadow island even, she was incredible. Her skill had her keeping up with Johann and not much needing his help. At least not until she was cornered by four or five dark mages. Here, she felt as useless as a poopy flavored lollipop. Well, maybe not that useless, but close. Her thoughts were dismal as she tried to form more plans.

Yona could see Amalie in the distance, thousands of shards of glass glinting in the sun. She sparkled and if the plant mage had the time, then she might have been truly mesmerized by how beautiful it looked. The shards sliced into the largest serpent Yona had ever seen, one larger than Yona had even imagined. She had to find a way to help. There were three serpents, she thought, and two more by Amalie. Yona placed her hand in the water, and focused, using the phytoplankton and plant mats to sense the location of the monsters beneath the surface. She sensed the three medium sized snakes going towards the boats with rescued people and children upon them, assuming no doubt that she was dead. As her bamboo spell ended, the second serpent she had killed slid into the water behind her and disturbed her sensing. She didn't need magic to sense anything more, however, Amalie calling out to her and informing her that the other titan snake was going for the main ship. That news allowed a horrified look to appear on her face and even Ketsueki was silent for once. As much as he enjoyed bloodshed, destroying their way back to Tolgalen was not something he found amusing. "I got it!" Yona bellowed above the waves.

She had enough in her to do this, she thought, enough to give her more time to regain magic power. She waved her hand through the air once more and plucked out a pallid ten-petaled flower from the air in a green hazy glow. The little white jasmine flower barely existed before the woman crushed it between her right palm and fingers. Her arms dripped in red and she frowned, noting to herself that she would need to cast a stronger healing spell soon or risk passing out. The magical flower, once crushed, filled Yona with an intense burst of magical energy. Her magical power almost restored, the plant mage swiftly worked to cast her next spell. The guild mage spread her fingers wide. She knew there were many seeds and microgametes floating in the water, naked to the eye, same as they were in the air. Then, the green haired female directed them to the vast serpent heading for the ship.

Yona implanted the small seedlings into the skin and scales, and grit her teeth as she put her hands into the water. Her blood dripped into the water as she focused her energies across the water. The spell encouraged the plants to grow and develop at insane speeds, shrouding the snake suddenly in plant-life. Thick leafy plants and vines, kelp by her own identification, covered the monster and grew continuously until they reached the ground. It took a few seconds of thrashing before the monster was abruptly jerked to a stop. Anchored by many layers of kelp to the seafloor far below, the sea snake was no longer able to move ahead. Yona's hands twitched, a bead of salt water dripping from her hair into her eyes, but the woman didn't dare to move and wipe it away. The coffin of kelp would hold for a little while, even as the creature inside thrashed and jerked. Kelp had the strongest hold of any marine plant that Yona had researched. It could withstand hurricanes that obliterated coastlines, it could remain attached even in the beat of the strongest tide, and in the face of a rip-current, the kelp plants would be unbroken.

As for the one remaining titan-snake and the three others, Yona had no solution. She had to keep her focus and attention elsewhere. She was out of breath now, soaked in snake saliva and brine, and as exhausted as she had ever been from any of the tests the guild had thrown her way. Yona prayed that Amalie could handle the situation for a minute because she needed some time to recuperate if she was going to keep going.